Data archiving, also referred to as cold storage, is the process of moving data that is no longer actively used to specialized mass data storage devices for long-term retention. Archived data comprises older data that is still important to an organization and may be needed for future reference but is no longer actively accessed on a regular basis.
Cold storage of large amounts of data may be accomplished using various techniques such as large capacity magnetic disks, tapes, or optical disks. It is desirable to be able to access large numbers of disks from storage.